Documentation/git-for-each-ref.txt

   1 git-for-each-ref(1)
   2 ===================
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-for-each-ref - Output information on each ref
   7
   8 SYNOPSIS
   9 --------
  10 [verse]
  11 'git for-each-ref' [--count=<count>] [--shell|--perl|--python|--tcl]
  12                    [(--sort=<key>)...] [--format=<format>] [<pattern>...]
  13                    [--points-at=<object>]
  14                    (--merged[=<object>] | --no-merged[=<object>])
  15                    [--contains[=<object>]] [--no-contains[=<object>]]
  16
  17 DESCRIPTION
  18 -----------
  19
  20 Iterate over all refs that match `<pattern>` and show them
  21 according to the given `<format>`, after sorting them according
  22 to the given set of `<key>`.  If `<count>` is given, stop after
  23 showing that many refs.  The interpolated values in `<format>`
  24 can optionally be quoted as string literals in the specified
  25 host language allowing their direct evaluation in that language.
  26
  27 OPTIONS
  28 -------
  29 <pattern>...::
  30         If one or more patterns are given, only refs are shown that
  31         match against at least one pattern, either using fnmatch(3) or
  32         literally, in the latter case matching completely or from the
  33         beginning up to a slash.
  34
  35 --count=<count>::
  36         By default the command shows all refs that match
  37         `<pattern>`.  This option makes it stop after showing
  38         that many refs.
  39
  40 --sort=<key>::
  41         A field name to sort on.  Prefix `-` to sort in
  42         descending order of the value.  When unspecified,
  43         `refname` is used.  You may use the --sort=<key> option
  44         multiple times, in which case the last key becomes the primary
  45         key.
  46
  47 --format=<format>::
  48         A string that interpolates `%(fieldname)` from a ref being shown
  49         and the object it points at.  If `fieldname`
  50         is prefixed with an asterisk (`*`) and the ref points
  51         at a tag object, use the value for the field in the object
  52         which the tag object refers to (instead of the field in the tag object).
  53         When unspecified, `<format>` defaults to
  54         `%(objectname) SPC %(objecttype) TAB %(refname)`.
  55         It also interpolates `%%` to `%`, and `%xx` where `xx`
  56         are hex digits interpolates to character with hex code
  57         `xx`; for example `%00` interpolates to `\0` (NUL),
  58         `%09` to `\t` (TAB) and `%0a` to `\n` (LF).
  59
  60 --color[=<when>]::
  61         Respect any colors specified in the `--format` option. The
  62         `<when>` field must be one of `always`, `never`, or `auto` (if
  63         `<when>` is absent, behave as if `always` was given).
  64
  65 --shell::
  66 --perl::
  67 --python::
  68 --tcl::
  69         If given, strings that substitute `%(fieldname)`
  70         placeholders are quoted as string literals suitable for
  71         the specified host language.  This is meant to produce
  72         a scriptlet that can directly be `eval`ed.
  73
  74 --points-at=<object>::
  75         Only list refs which points at the given object.
  76
  77 --merged[=<object>]::
  78         Only list refs whose tips are reachable from the
  79         specified commit (HEAD if not specified),
  80         incompatible with `--no-merged`.
  81
  82 --no-merged[=<object>]::
  83         Only list refs whose tips are not reachable from the
  84         specified commit (HEAD if not specified),
  85         incompatible with `--merged`.
  86
  87 --contains[=<object>]::
  88         Only list refs which contain the specified commit (HEAD if not
  89         specified).
  90
  91 --no-contains[=<object>]::
  92         Only list refs which don't contain the specified commit (HEAD
  93         if not specified).
  94
  95 --ignore-case::
  96         Sorting and filtering refs are case insensitive.
  97
  98 FIELD NAMES
  99 -----------
 100
 101 Various values from structured fields in referenced objects can
 102 be used to interpolate into the resulting output, or as sort
 103 keys.
 104
 105 For all objects, the following names can be used:
 106
 107 refname::
 108         The name of the ref (the part after $GIT_DIR/).
 109         For a non-ambiguous short name of the ref append `:short`.
 110         The option core.warnAmbiguousRefs is used to select the strict
 111         abbreviation mode. If `lstrip=<N>` (`rstrip=<N>`) is appended, strips `<N>`
 112         slash-separated path components from the front (back) of the refname
 113         (e.g. `%(refname:lstrip=2)` turns `refs/tags/foo` into `foo` and
 114         `%(refname:rstrip=2)` turns `refs/tags/foo` into `refs`).
 115         If `<N>` is a negative number, strip as many path components as
 116         necessary from the specified end to leave `-<N>` path components
 117         (e.g. `%(refname:lstrip=-2)` turns
 118         `refs/tags/foo` into `tags/foo` and `%(refname:rstrip=-1)`
 119         turns `refs/tags/foo` into `refs`). When the ref does not have
 120         enough components, the result becomes an empty string if
 121         stripping with positive <N>, or it becomes the full refname if
 122         stripping with negative <N>.  Neither is an error.
 123 +
 124 `strip` can be used as a synonym to `lstrip`.
 125
 126 objecttype::
 127         The type of the object (`blob`, `tree`, `commit`, `tag`).
 128
 129 objectsize::
 130         The size of the object (the same as 'git cat-file -s' reports).
 131         Append `:disk` to get the size, in bytes, that the object takes up on
 132         disk. See the note about on-disk sizes in the `CAVEATS` section below.
 133 objectname::
 134         The object name (aka SHA-1).
 135         For a non-ambiguous abbreviation of the object name append `:short`.
 136         For an abbreviation of the object name with desired length append
 137         `:short=<length>`, where the minimum length is MINIMUM_ABBREV. The
 138         length may be exceeded to ensure unique object names.
 139 deltabase::
 140         This expands to the object name of the delta base for the
 141         given object, if it is stored as a delta.  Otherwise it
 142         expands to the null object name (all zeroes).
 143
 144 upstream::
 145         The name of a local ref which can be considered ``upstream''
 146         from the displayed ref. Respects `:short`, `:lstrip` and
 147         `:rstrip` in the same way as `refname` above.  Additionally
 148         respects `:track` to show "[ahead N, behind M]" and
 149         `:trackshort` to show the terse version: ">" (ahead), "<"
 150         (behind), "<>" (ahead and behind), or "=" (in sync). `:track`
 151         also prints "[gone]" whenever unknown upstream ref is
 152         encountered. Append `:track,nobracket` to show tracking
 153         information without brackets (i.e "ahead N, behind M").
 154 +
 155 For any remote-tracking branch `%(upstream)`, `%(upstream:remotename)`
 156 and `%(upstream:remoteref)` refer to the name of the remote and the
 157 name of the tracked remote ref, respectively. In other words, the
 158 remote-tracking branch can be updated explicitly and individually by
 159 using the refspec `%(upstream:remoteref):%(upstream)` to fetch from
 160 `%(upstream:remotename)`.
 161 +
 162 Has no effect if the ref does not have tracking information associated
 163 with it.  All the options apart from `nobracket` are mutually exclusive,
 164 but if used together the last option is selected.
 165
 166 push::
 167         The name of a local ref which represents the `@{push}`
 168         location for the displayed ref. Respects `:short`, `:lstrip`,
 169         `:rstrip`, `:track`, `:trackshort`, `:remotename`, and `:remoteref`
 170         options as `upstream` does. Produces an empty string if no `@{push}`
 171         ref is configured.
 172
 173 HEAD::
 174         '*' if HEAD matches current ref (the checked out branch), ' '
 175         otherwise.
 176
 177 color::
 178         Change output color. Followed by `:<colorname>`, where color
 179         names are described under Values in the "CONFIGURATION FILE"
 180         section of linkgit:git-config[1].  For example,
 181         `%(color:bold red)`.
 182
 183 align::
 184         Left-, middle-, or right-align the content between
 185         %(align:...) and %(end). The "align:" is followed by
 186         `width=<width>` and `position=<position>` in any order
 187         separated by a comma, where the `<position>` is either left,
 188         right or middle, default being left and `<width>` is the total
 189         length of the content with alignment. For brevity, the
 190         "width=" and/or "position=" prefixes may be omitted, and bare
 191         <width> and <position> used instead.  For instance,
 192         `%(align:<width>,<position>)`. If the contents length is more
 193         than the width then no alignment is performed. If used with
 194         `--quote` everything in between %(align:...) and %(end) is
 195         quoted, but if nested then only the topmost level performs
 196         quoting.
 197
 198 if::
 199         Used as %(if)...%(then)...%(end) or
 200         %(if)...%(then)...%(else)...%(end).  If there is an atom with
 201         value or string literal after the %(if) then everything after
 202         the %(then) is printed, else if the %(else) atom is used, then
 203         everything after %(else) is printed. We ignore space when
 204         evaluating the string before %(then), this is useful when we
 205         use the %(HEAD) atom which prints either "*" or " " and we
 206         want to apply the 'if' condition only on the 'HEAD' ref.
 207         Append ":equals=<string>" or ":notequals=<string>" to compare
 208         the value between the %(if:...) and %(then) atoms with the
 209         given string.
 210
 211 symref::
 212         The ref which the given symbolic ref refers to. If not a
 213         symbolic ref, nothing is printed. Respects the `:short`,
 214         `:lstrip` and `:rstrip` options in the same way as `refname`
 215         above.
 216
 217 worktreepath::
 218         The absolute path to the worktree in which the ref is checked
 219         out, if it is checked out in any linked worktree. Empty string
 220         otherwise.
 221
 222 In addition to the above, for commit and tag objects, the header
 223 field names (`tree`, `parent`, `object`, `type`, and `tag`) can
 224 be used to specify the value in the header field.
 225
 226 For commit and tag objects, the special `creatordate` and `creator`
 227 fields will correspond to the appropriate date or name-email-date tuple
 228 from the `committer` or `tagger` fields depending on the object type.
 229 These are intended for working on a mix of annotated and lightweight tags.
 230
 231 Fields that have name-email-date tuple as its value (`author`,
 232 `committer`, and `tagger`) can be suffixed with `name`, `email`,
 233 and `date` to extract the named component.
 234
 235 The message in a commit or a tag object is `contents`, from which
 236 `contents:<part>` can be used to extract various parts out of:
 237
 238 contents:size::
 239         The size in bytes of the commit or tag message.
 240
 241 contents:subject::
 242         The first paragraph of the message, which typically is a
 243         single line, is taken as the "subject" of the commit or the
 244         tag message.
 245
 246 contents:body::
 247         The remainder of the commit or the tag message that follows
 248         the "subject".
 249
 250 contents:signature::
 251         The optional GPG signature of the tag.
 252
 253 contents:lines=N::
 254         The first `N` lines of the message.
 255
 256 Additionally, the trailers as interpreted by linkgit:git-interpret-trailers[1]
 257 are obtained as `trailers` (or by using the historical alias
 258 `contents:trailers`).  Non-trailer lines from the trailer block can be omitted
 259 with `trailers:only`. Whitespace-continuations can be removed from trailers so
 260 that each trailer appears on a line by itself with its full content with
 261 `trailers:unfold`. Both can be used together as `trailers:unfold,only`.
 262
 263 For sorting purposes, fields with numeric values sort in numeric order
 264 (`objectsize`, `authordate`, `committerdate`, `creatordate`, `taggerdate`).
 265 All other fields are used to sort in their byte-value order.
 266
 267 There is also an option to sort by versions, this can be done by using
 268 the fieldname `version:refname` or its alias `v:refname`.
 269
 270 In any case, a field name that refers to a field inapplicable to
 271 the object referred by the ref does not cause an error.  It
 272 returns an empty string instead.
 273
 274 As a special case for the date-type fields, you may specify a format for
 275 the date by adding `:` followed by date format name (see the
 276 values the `--date` option to linkgit:git-rev-list[1] takes).
 277
 278 Some atoms like %(align) and %(if) always require a matching %(end).
 279 We call them "opening atoms" and sometimes denote them as %($open).
 280
 281 When a scripting language specific quoting is in effect, everything
 282 between a top-level opening atom and its matching %(end) is evaluated
 283 according to the semantics of the opening atom and only its result
 284 from the top-level is quoted.
 285
 286
 287 EXAMPLES
 288 --------
 289
 290 An example directly producing formatted text.  Show the most recent
 291 3 tagged commits:
 292
 293 ------------
 294 #!/bin/sh
 295
 296 git for-each-ref --count=3 --sort='-*authordate' \
 297 --format='From: %(*authorname) %(*authoremail)
 298 Subject: %(*subject)
 299 Date: %(*authordate)
 300 Ref: %(*refname)
 301
 302 %(*body)
 303 ' 'refs/tags'
 304 ------------
 305
 306
 307 A simple example showing the use of shell eval on the output,
 308 demonstrating the use of --shell.  List the prefixes of all heads:
 309 ------------
 310 #!/bin/sh
 311
 312 git for-each-ref --shell --format="ref=%(refname)" refs/heads | \
 313 while read entry
 314 do
 315         eval "$entry"
 316         echo `dirname $ref`
 317 done
 318 ------------
 319
 320
 321 A bit more elaborate report on tags, demonstrating that the format
 322 may be an entire script:
 323 ------------
 324 #!/bin/sh
 325
 326 fmt='
 327         r=%(refname)
 328         t=%(*objecttype)
 329         T=${r#refs/tags/}
 330
 331         o=%(*objectname)
 332         n=%(*authorname)
 333         e=%(*authoremail)
 334         s=%(*subject)
 335         d=%(*authordate)
 336         b=%(*body)
 337
 338         kind=Tag
 339         if test "z$t" = z
 340         then
 341                 # could be a lightweight tag
 342                 t=%(objecttype)
 343                 kind="Lightweight tag"
 344                 o=%(objectname)
 345                 n=%(authorname)
 346                 e=%(authoremail)
 347                 s=%(subject)
 348                 d=%(authordate)
 349                 b=%(body)
 350         fi
 351         echo "$kind $T points at a $t object $o"
 352         if test "z$t" = zcommit
 353         then
 354                 echo "The commit was authored by $n $e
 355 at $d, and titled
 356
 357     $s
 358
 359 Its message reads as:
 360 "
 361                 echo "$b" | sed -e "s/^/    /"
 362                 echo
 363         fi
 364 '
 365
 366 eval=`git for-each-ref --shell --format="$fmt" \
 367         --sort='*objecttype' \
 368         --sort=-taggerdate \
 369         refs/tags`
 370 eval "$eval"
 371 ------------
 372
 373
 374 An example to show the usage of %(if)...%(then)...%(else)...%(end).
 375 This prefixes the current branch with a star.
 376
 377 ------------
 378 git for-each-ref --format="%(if)%(HEAD)%(then)* %(else)  %(end)%(refname:short)" refs/heads/
 379 ------------
 380
 381
 382 An example to show the usage of %(if)...%(then)...%(end).
 383 This prints the authorname, if present.
 384
 385 ------------
 386 git for-each-ref --format="%(refname)%(if)%(authorname)%(then) Authored by: %(authorname)%(end)"
 387 ------------
 388
 389 CAVEATS
 390 -------
 391
 392 Note that the sizes of objects on disk are reported accurately, but care
 393 should be taken in drawing conclusions about which refs or objects are
 394 responsible for disk usage. The size of a packed non-delta object may be
 395 much larger than the size of objects which delta against it, but the
 396 choice of which object is the base and which is the delta is arbitrary
 397 and is subject to change during a repack.
 398
 399 Note also that multiple copies of an object may be present in the object
 400 database; in this case, it is undefined which copy's size or delta base
 401 will be reported.
 402
 403 SEE ALSO
 404 --------
 405 linkgit:git-show-ref[1]
 406
 407 GIT
 408 ---
 409 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite